Mexicana restaurant on court st. in norwalk......some of the best authentic mexican food i've ever had (even better than the food in mexico).......great homemade spicy salsa.....great mexican beer.......tortillas with shreadded chicken or pork at excellent............portions are huge........they will roll you out of there.......and you'll spend under $40.......

I don't know the Stamford scene at all, but as I work in South Norwalk, I have a reasonably good handle of the Norwalk scene.

Not expensive? OK. Here are my picks:

Valencia Luncheria. It's hip, it's tiny, and it's not in the most fashionable part of town, but the food is amazing. I'm personally partial to the ham, mango and Brie arepa, but everything is good. I also recommend the dulce de leche and banana arepa for dessert. http://www.valencialuncheria.com/

The Lime. A few doors down from Valencia. It veers a bit into expensive territory (some things are >$20, but not many) for dinner, and I've only been for lunch, but it's great. My personal favorite is the salmon burger, but they have good falafel and hummus as well.

Burger Bar, in SoNo, across from the Crown movie theaters. Best burger around, I prefer mine with gorgonzola with sweet potato fries.

I'm primarily a luncher in Norwalk, so my apologies for not as much detail as you want, but I'm sure for dinner these places will perform as well as they do for lunch.

The hard part is keeping the price in line with the request of NOT EXPENSIVE snd staying in STM and Norwalk. When Jfood goes for dinner this is not the pacing item, but he has eaten in several places for lunch that he really likes.

1 – Barcelona – You can have dinner for 2 for $50-60. Jfood loves the SONO location2 – The Lime – Although Jfood has only been there for lunch he loves it and will try for dinner in the future. IJHO (In Jfood's honest opinion) there is no comparison with the Valenzia place five doors down. The Lime is faaaar superior.3 –Giovanni’s 2 or 3 – Not the steak place, but for lunches in a very low key, 3 table type place. This is on the corner of North and Franklin in Stamford, if coming down atlantic make a right at Planet Pizza and up on the left.4 – Colony Pizza – does not get better and not an expensive as this fabulous pizza place. Hot oil and sausage and it’s heaven5 – And on the off chance this may not appear on other reco’s how about City Limits Diner. Jfood has eaten some pretty good lunches there over the years..

Have to respond to most of theseWhen Brasitas First opened - it was fine, similar to some very good Colombian food in the Queens but it definitely went down hill in many ways, so I won't go back.Royal Guard should be closed .Smokey Joe's - When it was Busters , it was authentic, but smokey Joe's is typical northern impersonation of great southern food.City Limits never impressed me in any way.I have actually never been to Brennan's - for reasons that I don't have a clue about and I like Colony pizza

sorry for not being constructive so here it goesI like Mona Lisa for Italian- not cheap tho - but anything is goodFin II for Lunch and Japanese tho I also like KotobukiAthens (pizza and, I think) fits the cheep and good - mostly greek food Slovakia or gyro platters are good to meI also like one hole in the wall for simple Mexican ... tho I won't say it is the best in the area - Tacos Guadalajara - but it sticks with me as being unpretentious and tasteypizza would be colony - but i like stingers on mine I think that is more constructive, I hope

Keep forgetting that side of norwalk for Swankies, jfood agrees on that inclusionAdd the blackened chicken wrap to the salmon burger and falaffel at Lime

And 2 questions:

1 - Diamond Corner Deli is the place just north of the strip mall with A&S? Never would have thought to stop there. Sounds like a stop on friday morning.2 - Fat Cat is on 123 where route 7 comes over across from the subaru place? The pizza is good enough for you to place on this list? But Broc Rabe, jfood expected better, like sausage or pepperoni.

And jfood always watched smiling faces at Overton;s but always forgets this place. Then you can walk over for some ice cream.

Diamond Corner is in the first strip mall on the left as you enter Broad River on Rte. 123 coming from New Canaan. Same strip mall as La Taverna and Li Bros. I'm there every Saturday AM with my son in tow...it's where I pick up my Advertiser.

Fat Cat is NOT my favorite pizza joint, Colony and Letizia's are better overall, but I have a thing for their broccoli rabe and garlic chip pie. Their salads are fresh and the wife really likes their wine list and cheese selection. And it's relatively cheap, so I thought of them as a good bargain destination.

always looking for another pizza place. jfood really likes Joe's in NC and their bacon and tomato is great when lorenzo makes it, perfect crust.

and with liz sue xharging $175 for a buttered bagel, jfood snagglepussed and went exit stage left. Will have to see how the bacon/egg/cheese on a roll at DC conpares to Veggie Barn, where they do make a good BEG on a roll.

Jfood just finished the BEC Wrap. That is quite a breakfast my man. And jfood appreciates it given he was just booked in back 2 back meetings through 4PM so that was b'fast and lunch. As you know it can handle it.

The people there are great. The guy in the back is busy frying about 100+ chicken breasts, some are already out of the oven in their Parm state (at 8AM) and he probably has 3 more hours of frying ahead of him. the blonde woman couldn't be nicer as well.

The sandwich was more a bacon cheese with an egg thrown in. Lots of bacon, lots of melted cheese and a fried egg. a second egg may have been a good idea. Also the wrap itself could have been heated to release some of the flavor. A cold wrap tastes a little too lard-y for jfood. And jfood was a little surprised by the price of $6.50. He felt it's a little steep, but it is a full meal.

So jfood would say it is a very good wrap, be prepared for some extra lipitor and ask for 2 eggs and heat up the wrap on the next visit.

Wow - did they move Fat Cat from Wall Street? I didn't realize that. I'd also like to add Wild Rice, which is just east or the Stop N Shop center on Main Avenue. It's where Panda Pavilion used to be and the food is fantastic. Very fresh, not gloppy - them have real, home made spring rolls! Really excellent asian food and very, very good sushi.

Glad you think Joe's is PHAT. It was a zoo on Sunday and the new pie maker needs a little more TLC in placing the extras on top. He was very chintzy with the sausage (Lorenzo is off on Sundays). May have to whisper in Lorenzo's ear that the pie was really good but seeing two lonely sausage pieces on a couple of the slices was a little disappointing.

Fat's Pizza used to be on Flax Hill at the corner of Soundview; they moved over to New Canaan Ave. and Jordan's II took over the Flax Hill location. Fat Cat Pie Co. is a completely different place. Love that place. I also highly recommend the Post Road Diner (or the PRD or, as we call it, THE Diner). They have a Buffalo Chicken salad that I love, and buckwheat pancakes and great omelets and great hand-made on-the-premises pies made by the lovely Olga and...well, I love the place, love the people who own it.